A (slightly) NEWER CAR!!

 So, Juanita, my CRV, had to go to a farm.  REALLY.  Not like that dog a governor shot.  Actually to a farm.  Here is photographic proof:

She's quite happy there even with her wonky fender from an unfortunate encounter with a deer.  Less fortunate for the deer really....

I don't have a name for the new rig yet...working on it....

Another Honda.  2003 Element (replacing a 2002 CRV).   SUPER fun to drive.  Only 91000 miles.  For me, there is well and truly an "only" in front of that mileage.   Juanita had 165,000.

I paid more than planned, probably more than I had to if I had infinite time to shop and didn't REALLY REALLY like this car.  I've wanted an Element for a while.  Even more after driving a friend's for a few days around Santa Fe (Thanks Lynn!  Sorry about the near miss while you were in the car....let's focus on the "miss" part of that).

Anyway, it's basically a van you can hose out with GIANT doors and the back doors open backwards making an even bigger space to get crap/people in and out.

I sat in it for the test drive and went "ahhh" because it super fits my back and butt.  It's, much like Juanita's, seats are like straight back kitchen chairs.   Those work well with the giant stick reportedly up my butt.  I took it to a friend's house and he sat in it and said "ahhh"...also fit his back.  

It was towed behind and RV mostly so the back wheels have been yanked about a bit.  Otherwise, in pretty sweet shape.  Even came with a scotche (scoach?) BIT of dog hair.   There was a husky riding in it so they tell me.  Whatever.

No matter what I paid, pretty sure I can hit my purchase metric:  10,000miles/1k$ in purchase and unexpected repairs.

Juanita was a 5k$ purchase.  Let's say 1k$ in unexpected repairs (she went through brakes fast!) and I was at 68,000 miles and change that I put on her in 3years and  few months.  So, we were roughly even.

BUT GET THIS!!!  The dealer would NOT take Juanita in trade!  Not even for scrap.  The salesperson said she didn't want to give me 300$ scrap for a car that could still be driven.  I didn't want to mess with selling a vehicle or keeping plates/insurance on another rig if I owned it along with the newer car.  So I gave it away to a friend.  Worst case scenario the winter tires on rims will fit the friend's other vehicle and she can junk Juanita if she wants.   But, she's driving it!  She doesn't drive as much as me and has more back up drivers with vehicles in her area.  Juanita just wasn't up to being my daily driver with a 50mile/day commute minimum.  

Anyway, driving a car to the point the USED car dealer won't take it is a new personal best!  And Juanita gets to live out her natural life on a farm.   The farmer's helper said "this is a great car" and did some deliveries the day after they got her.  Nice.

The Element is a blast to drive.  Has good tires.  Still a rough ride because ...honda...but NOTHING like the 50mile kidney punch that was commuting in Juanita.  

The Element has good clearance, ooooooodles of hauling space (like enough that I wouldn't need a truck immediately should my pickup be undrivable for some reason)  (but so far Prince, the pick up, is doing GREAT!).  

Well, that's the news for now.

That's It...No More Food Delivery For Me

 

So apparently food delivery undermines restaurants, food trucks, etc.

Warning...Potty talks in the vid.

https://youtu.be/aFsfJYWpqII?si=cxiT0_nxIFPegsbb

DAMMIT!!

Ugh.  If I'm going to support good real food I need to let food delivery go.  I never use it myself because a) I am cheap, B) I live 11 miles from any sort of food cookery-servery 3) I don't use a smart phone or have wifi at home.  I partake if others use an app.   Now I have to think about that.  

DAMMIT!  I want the restaurants to get the money and the farmers and so on.  I don't want big-app losing money until they undermine the food industry.  Ugh.

Farewell Joe Flaherty

 

Farewell Joe Flaherty

SCTV is still a favorite sketch comedy show.   

https://youtu.be/uHkvD7-u7y8?si=4C58VP_1rP5mUFdK

He's the one who is not John candy

Food Is Good....UltraProcessed Crap Isn't

 So, here's the danger of reading science stuff, sometimes it makes you do stuff that is good for you.  Not always, often, it is BS but this time...it makes sense.

I read and listened to the book UltraProcessed People by Chris Van Tulleken several times and will do that a few more times.

I'd already read/listened to various other books and articles on how the ultraprocessed food messed with our bodies, brains, moods, economies, human rights, farming, soil, weather and on and on.

This one though, it brings it all together and the dude has a nice british accent of some sort so it's an easy listen.

Turns out, frankenfood is bad for you! I mean, I KNEW that but I didn't get scared straight.  I'm getting there now.  

For years I've been working on the diet.  Decades.  And the exercise.

NOW though...I have the means, the time, the motivation and group of friends and colleagues who also are a bit into it in their own ways.  Is that what you extraverts call a support system?

So, last year I avoided cheap grocery store sugary foods.   That made a major change in the diet and budget.  Good for both as it turns out.   If I really really wanted a treat, I didn't buy Reese's (this will be a complete shock to those who know me...I haven't had an industrial candy bar, even an expensive "good" one in over a year), instead, I either made it or went to a business, all turned out to be local, where someone actually MADE the thing.   Like Moscow Candy in Moscow, Idaho where I got a really good peanut butter cup for 1$ or a "Bruttle" (what Butterfingers WISH they were) that is made in Spokane for 1.50$.   They are smaller than the industrial versions, cost about the same or less and are astoundingly BETTER.  Also, there are some  road blocks to getting them.  I'm not in Moscow most days.

Occasionally, I would get a locally made cinnamon roll or piece of pie or cookie.  And occasionally I would make them.

This year, cutting back UPF, ultraprocessed food, as defined by the NOVA system.   None of it is good and it turns out all of it wrecks my health.   

FORTUNATELY I have the means in money and location and skills now to do that.  I have enough $$ to buy eggs and live close enough to people who raise chickens that go outside.  I know people who hunt (and hope to be one of them this year) and trade them informally for game meat.  I know how to butcher chickens and other small things and can them.  I live with enough outdoor space to have a garden and near lots of people who garden.  I have enough money to buy produce from local farmers.  

While it costs more upfront for the food, by avoiding the fast food and convenience foods, my total food spend for 2023 went up very little.  Pretty much on par with inflation.

Recently people at work got into similar things and I talked one into reading the above mentioned book.  Now he and I share labor on processing (not ULTRAprocessing...very different) meat and fish.  For the holidays I gave home made mustard, ketchup, and vanilla extract.  In return I got deer and elk meat, and some smoked salmon.   We are all happy with that.

Now...to buy a 2024 hunting and fishing permit.  The hope is to ACTUALLY use it this year.  Especially for fishing because that's easy and doesn't have to result in 100lbs of meat like killing big game.

Natural Fiber, Quality, Durable Clothing is Important. Getting That 2nd Hand Is Even Better

 All that cheap crap synthetic fiber clothing you buy, then return or wear a few times and "donate" or throw out (most of the donated can't be used because it is crap and no one wants it so it is thrown out).

Here is a summary of the post-purchase, even if "returned" and you got your money back, damage it does:

https://youtu.be/tAw_LCfHJtM?si=C4l6zWGve7Z79oCx

SO DON'T.

Here's my latest thrift, at least 2nd hand maybe 3rd or 4th hand purchase:

Pure wool (yeah..I totally took that phot in a bathroom...), in great shape.  Warm as hell. 6$.  It is from the 1970s to 1980s.  Looks like the zipper has been replaced.  The zipper is heavy duty metal so it will last longer than I will.

How many coats/sweaters have I thrown out?   Zero in the last 20 years.  Donated?  Maybe 2 and those were "redonated" since I had gotten them 2nd hand as gifts or thrifts.  And they were in good shape.  I mend things as I can.

The natural fiber in this jacket will not become microplastics killing fish and birds and staying in the environment for eons.   The bits that come off when I wash this will get picked up by birds or critters for nests (since I hand wash outside with these wool type garments)  (also they rarely need to be washed).

I do have a pure wool sweater that wore out (holes in the elbows, so thin you could read through it, the seams gave way.  I had had it 15 years and it was used when I bought it).  I cut it into rags and am still using a couple of those.   

The jeans that recently disintegrated off my person at the end of a work day (eventually cotton...I buy 100% cotton jeans at thrift) have been stripped of usable parts like zipper, waist band etc.   And now the bits of it are used as firestarters.  It was too thin and weak to use as rags though I do use it to stop up spills now and then.  Once it dries out, it is a fire starter again.  

My used clothes do NOT end up on the beach in a different country.  

If you actually used it up, wear it out, or make it do, or do with out, then you don't trash the damn planet. 

SO stop with the fast fashion.  It might be "fast" in that it spends little time in your possession but the damage it does to the world, your budget, the people who make it, ship it, and sell it (all underpaid and exploited and often poisoned by the substances used in production and transportation and even off-gassing in the stores) is NOT WORTH IT.  Also, it looks cheap and ugly.

So buy decent clothes you will actually wear, wash, mend and enjoy.  They are better, they feel better, they look better and they don't destroy the planet or  your soul.

End of rant.

I Ate Pig Heart

 Not one of the transplanted ones. This one was NOT GMO like the transplanted ones.

It was the cheap healthy meat available at the winter market.

First...a tiny rant:  THE MARKET BOSSES LIMITED THE NUMBER OF BAKERS! to ONE per market. WTF?  I want sweet treats, BITCH.   The one baker there had some bread and some doughy looking cinnamon rolls.  Where were the cranky lefse ladies?  Where was my cute baker with her magical fig cake and lemon bars and every thing she makes?  EXCLUDED.   Plenty of crafts but here's something the market bosses might want to note:  people with low blood sugar don't impulse buy as much as people hopped up on artisanal tarts.

OK, so, I got eggs...some of the best eggs I've seen.   And a pig heart.  It was only 5$/lb for pastured meat.  I asked how to cook it as last time I got a pig heart it was rubber band texture.  And flavor.  It was also small which is nice.  2/3lb.  I cut off all the tendon and silver skin stuff I could which probably took 2oz of meat with it.  The seller told me she cooks it hot and fast after marinating it.   And that any tendon or silver skin would be gross.  (of course NOW I want to can hearts whole in pint jars with the gross bits still on them...what great valentine gifts!!!)

So I did that.  Not the canning, the trimming and marinating.  I used the last tablespoon of olive oil in a jar, some vinegar and a scoop of ras al hanout seasoning from a favorite Aunt (Thanks Chris!).   

I left that for the afternoon on Sunday.   Then heated up the woodstove since it was getting cold inside the wee shed.  And fried up slices of heart in a bit of coconut oil.  It is REALLY lean meat.  

The instructions were to get it to look about medium, take it off the heat and let it sit a few minutes.

I had eaten all my side dishes earlier so I was faced with a plate of heart chunks.  I got out some spicy mustard.

It wasn't bad!  So that's a great improvement on the last time I made it.  It was "meh".  The mustard helped.  It cooled off super fast since it was like 45 degrees in the shed.  I will try it again...and I really really want to try canning whole hearts in pint jars.  It would be so gross and cool.  

COOKING "WITHOUT POWER"....??

 That's been a trending topic in the frugal and prepper youtubes and blogs.

Uh...you can't cook without power.   They mean without electricity.  Since any time I cook at home is is WITHOUT ELECTRICITY I do  not find this challenging.

Without "power" though...that's not a thing.  It takes power to make heat and heat to cook.  Ipso factoid: You need some type of power to cook.

Here are some of the not electric cooking methods I use all the freaking time and it is NOT a problem:

Wood...burn it.  Put the food to be cooked close to the flame.  Voila...cooked.

Butane...use a butane stove.  Put the food to be cooked close to the flame.  Voila...cooked.

Candles...use candles.  Put the food to be cooked close to the flame.  Voila...cooked.  Use only small amounts of food for this one and thin pans because candles do not put out a huge amount of heat. 

Solar...use the sun via a solar cooker (I have 3 types).  Put the food to be cooked in the solar cooker.  Voila...cooked.

Propane...use a propane stove or little heater burner.  Put the food to be cooked close to the flame.  Voila...cooked.